A nice gift for the wine geek.

If you have a wine lover who's also a tech geek I'm sure they will be appreciative of this little USB thumb drive from bewineconnected.com. Not only is it shaped like a wine bottle but it's packed with wine related info, ringtones for your cellphone, and an application for managing your wine cellar! At 35 Euro it's a little pricey for a thumb drive, but considering the information provided it may well be worth the purchase. The Open Cellar application is available here for free, but package it all up nicely in a cute little thumb drive and I'm sure your wine collector will love it. Thanks to Emmanuel Etcheparre for sending me this link.

Gearing up to be your own IT help desk

c|net's "The Real Deal" episode 69 - "Be your own IT department" hosted by Tom Merrit and Rafe Needleman is a great listen if you are the tech go-to guy/gal on your block. I loved this episode for all of the software tools that are discussed. I hadn't considered creating a thumb drive tool box before, but this makes so much sense! Rather than trying to remember URLs, load up the flash memory with dozens of helpful utilities and be prepared for whatever that Windows machine throws at you. Tom and Rafe list dozens of apps that will help track down and fix whatever is ailing Granny's PC. Thanks guys, great episode!

The latest in USB hubs

I've been contemplating the purchase of a USB hub for a short while now. Not that it should be a tough decision to make, just that I'm a bit of a procrastinator at times. My Dell has 4 USB ports, one occupied by my printer, another by my web cam, the third usually has my HomeScan cable and the forth alternates between my thumb drive and digital camera. To make matters worse the two ports on the front of my PC are angled downward towards the floor, while this does allow the little door on the front of the Dell to remain closed, it is often a point of contention as I find it difficult to plug into from a seated position.

Alas, I think I'm glad I waited! According to Engadget, Belkin has just introduced 3 new hubs to the market. While I'm not overly excited about two thirds of the new offerings, the Swivel Hub at $29.99 US may just be what the doctor ordered. It allows you to swing its four USB ports in any direction via an articulating joint. I'll just have to decide which is more practical in my case, another cable to dangle from my desk or removing the little door on the Dell to accommodate the Swivel Hub... there I go again!

Image from Engadget.

Bob Marley making music history

As I type this, Bob Marley is Jammin' in my speakers! The 30th anniversary of the release of Bob's Exodus album, written and recorded in 1977 while in exile after an assassination attempt, is being celebrated with the re-release of the album. Here is the music history part... you can purchase the re-release as a DVD/CD set, Vinyl, or CD, a book is also available, but the first 4000 fans to join the "Bob Marley Passport Fan Club" at bobmarley.com will receive the re-released album (plus a few extras) on a USB thumb drive! The cost of the fan club membership is $44.99 (US) per year but it also entitles you to a number of fan club extras. At that cost, even if you only joined to get one of the thumb drives it would definitely be worth it in my opinion.

That thumb drive speaks volumes!

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Vonage has introduced the V-phone, a bright orange 256 MB thumb drive complete with Vonage Talk Software pre-loaded, a detachable stereo earpiece/microphone, and your own Vonage phone number. The beauty of this little device is that there is no need to install the software on your PC, or restart your machine to use it. Just plug the device into any available USB port, assuming the PC being plugged into has a high speed connection, and start calling! Considering I paid $99 as an upgrade to my Dell PC a couple of years ago for my 64 MB USB drive, the $29.99 (ca) price tag seems reasonable. There is of course a requirement to subscribe to a Vonage service plan, which start at $19.99 (ca). You can compare that to your current phone service and make your own decision whether or not it's worth the expense, and of course there are other VoIP services such as Skype to consider but this little device does have it's merits. If nothing else, there are 250 MB's of free space to store your MP3's on...

Sounds like a great solution for road warriors and students wanting to stay in touch with home, at $20 a month for 500 minutes the return on investment should be decent..."Dad, my marks are good. Can you send money?"